Are Russians Impolite Reasons for Such Stereotyping and a...

Are Russians Impolite? Reasons for Such Stereotyping and a Look into Russian Politeness in Comparison with English. Despite the fact that the phenomenon of politeness is widespread in the entire world, after looking into different cultures it is possible to notice that in each one it reveals itself in various ways; it can have a small number of differences or it may differ starting from the basics. This is determined by a range of cultural specifications, customs, and way of life (Wierzbicka 2003). The essence of politeness is usually lies much deeper than in speaking syntax and language structure. An ignorance of given actions can result in misunderstanding and cultural stereotyping, which is highly dangerous to communication (Leech†¦show more content†¦In the meantime in collectivistic culture individuals can be closely connected, society takes care of its members, and as a gratitude an individual devotes himself to it, this is a type of culture present in Russia Tatiana Larina (2008). Here is one of the proofs. One of the key aspects that determine the type of dominant social distance of certain culture are proverbs, which are information concentrates about the most important features of given culture travelling from one generation to another, by reflecting on proverbs it Is easy to establish whether given culture is individualistic or collectivistic. English language is full of proverbs proving its Individualistic essence: â€Å"An Englishman’s house is his castle / A hedge between keeps friendship green / Good fences make good neighbours / Love your neighbour, yet pull not down your fence / He travels the fastest who travels alone / Friends are like fiddle-strings and they must not be screwed too tightly / Come seldom, come welcome† and so on. These proverbs demonstrate how much English people value their privacy and tend to keep distance even with friends. Meanwhile, In Russia these mentioned proverbs would not be understood due to the fact that completely different cultural characteristics are dominant, collectivistic Russia (Wierzbicka 2003) is filled with proverbs like:Show MoreRelatedAn Introduction to Intercultural Communication29172 Words   |  117 Pagesinteraction between members of different groups, which differ from each other in respect of the knowledge shared by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour. For those wanting to dig a bit deeper it may be a good idea to look into the works of Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Harry C. Triandis, Fons Trompenaars, Clifford Geertz and Shalom Schwartz. The theories developed by the researchers and academics can and has been applied to many fields such as business, management